The present invention relates to a radiation coagulator having an incandescent electric filament as source of radiation and a radiation output means comprising a tissue contact element of a crystalline dielectric material transparent to the radiation, traversed by the thermal radiation and forming a contact surface to be held against living body tissue.
Such a coagulator is disclosed in German Letters of Disclosure No. 2,717,421. It is highly serviceable for arresting moderate hemorrhages. It is desirable, however, to be able to arrest more severe hemorrhages and still further reduce adhesion of the contact element to the tissue. Further, the appliance should also be suitable for arresting hemorrhages in very soft and sensitive tissue, such as liver tissue. For certain purposes, moreover, for example destruction of blood vessels passing beneath the surface of the skin, it is desirable to keep the evolution of heat in the skin adjacent to the contact surface and in the immediately adjoining layer of tissue comparatively low, so that coagulation will become effective only at a certain distance from the surface of the skin.